Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The City of Manitowoc Personnel Committee met on October 5, 2026 at 5:04 PM in Council Chambers and via Zoom. Members present: Alderpeople Norell (Chair), Sitkiewitz, and Beeman. Absent: Schlei and Benzinger. The meeting covered health insurance premiums, park on‑call pay, paratransit job positions, a salary survey report, and a police contract update.
The consent agenda was approved unanimously with no items removed.
No public comments were offered in person or received in advance.
26‑0866 Recommendations from McClone for 2027 Benefit Plans Human Resources Director Jessie Lillibridge and McClone broker Tera Nelson presented a recommended 13% increase in health insurance premiums for 2027, citing a $1.4 million deficit in the self‑funded plan. They outlined several “levers” that could reduce costs (e.g., spousal surcharge, tobacco surcharge, higher deductibles, changes to the stop‑loss level, adjusting the employer/employee contribution split) but noted these would shift more cost to employees. Committee members (Alderpeople Sitkiewitz and Nycz) expressed interest in evaluating those options to address the deficit, while others questioned the timing given the 13% increase already proposed. McClone noted that the average market increase is 15–22% and that changing plan design could add additional burden. After extended debate, the committee did not vote on the premium increase or any plan changes. Instead, Lillibridge was directed to work with McClone to provide the committee and the Mayor with variable scenarios (including all the listed options) by the October 19, 2026 Common Council meeting. No action was taken on this item.
26‑0865 Approval of Parks On‑Call Premium Pay Lillibridge explained that the newly separated Parks and Recreation Department needs an on‑call schedule similar to the Department of Public Works. The committee approved the premium pay and referred the item to the Parks and Recreation Committee. (Motion by Sitkiewitz, seconded by Beeman; vote 3‑0.)
26‑0863 Approval of Job Positions and Pricing for In‑House Paratransit Lillibridge presented four job descriptions (Mobility Services Operator full‑time, part‑time with CDL, part‑time, and Mobility Services Coordinator) in case the City brings “Assist to Transport” paratransit services in‑house. The committee approved the job descriptions as presented, but added a condition: no advertising, recruitment, hiring, or filling of these positions until both the Public Works Committee and Common Council approve the transition. (Motion by Sitkiewitz, seconded by Beeman; vote 3‑0.)
26‑0864 Annual Reporting from Salary Survey for Compensation Plan Adjustment Lillibridge presented the annual salary survey data showing adjustments other municipalities made. The item was informational only and was placed on file without a formal vote.
26‑0670 Update on Police Contract Bargaining The committee convened in closed session at 5:35 PM under Wis. Stat. § 19.85(1)(e) for bargaining purposes. They reconvened in open session at 6:12 PM and took no action on the police contract.
And now I'm just going to hit flies. I'll be down shortly. Only the mayor was that probably more than it would be part of anything. Probably more chair than we can part of any problem. Well I don't know. I don't know. Yes. But as illegal is the right one. I don't know. Um it's not a pure one idea. Only if you're the point maybe the bridge will start it might be. Yes. Yeah. All right, we're gonna call the uh City of Matzwalk personnel committee to order. Uh currently there's only two members present, myself and Alder Sikowitz. Um first next item on the agenda is uh public comment. Is there anybody here from the con the from the public who'd like to comment in front of this committee tonight? We wonder fine. Second call for public comment. All right, any uh previously received public comment? No. It doesn't appear we have anybody online for public comment. Okay, well we'll move on here. So we can't handle the consent agenda yet because we don't have a quorum, so we're gonna go ahead and move into discussion items at this point. And I know that we have a presentation, item 260866 from McClone for 2027 benefits. Thank you. Uh we don't necessarily have a presentation, but we did provide a memo ahead of time that outlines our recommendations for 2027 benefits for city employees. Um right now we're looking at a 13% increase in premiums. Uh we have not firmed up our stop loss renewal yet. We're hoping to get that this week. Um considering that we did end the year in in 2025 at a negative, we did provide a couple of items that a council may want to consider to help with the deficit. None of those things are included in our recommendation tonight, but we wanted to let you know these would be some ways that we could potentially reduce those costs for our self-funded account. Um if there are any questions specifically related to the memo, I do have Tara here from clone, so um she would be happy to answer any questions. Um there was a request of what it would look like in a four-tier or three-tier type structure option, giving instead of an employee only and family um contribution funding, what it would look like for employee, employee spouse, employee children, and family. So we've provided those rates based on your 2026 rates today. As you can imagine, um, it lowers the cost for the employee contribution, but definitely increases it substantially at that family level. The two in between would obviously offset each other depending on if it's employee spouse or employee children, employee children being the lesser of those two in that four-tier option. Go ahead, Aldorsa quick. Thank you.